letshugbro
1997
Second playthrough. First one was in... 2002, probably?
Beat it without touching the Weapons, building any crazy materia setups or doing any of the big sidequests because I went into North Cave to pick up an item, got lost, and ended up fighting Sephiroth by mistake. Will likely be going back to lv99 the shit out of things because the modern ports have loads of great quality-of-life features that take the sting out of min-maxing a JRPG.
The game is still beautifully tight (you can beat it in 20 hours without really trying!) and has probably my favourite cast of Final Fantasisers outside of VI, which this game clearly takes a huge chunk of its inspiration from.
Don't think I can be bothered playing the remake after this - knowing it's just Midgar, a miniscule portion of the entire saga, just doesn't sound very interesting. And how can you really improve what's in here?
Beat it without touching the Weapons, building any crazy materia setups or doing any of the big sidequests because I went into North Cave to pick up an item, got lost, and ended up fighting Sephiroth by mistake. Will likely be going back to lv99 the shit out of things because the modern ports have loads of great quality-of-life features that take the sting out of min-maxing a JRPG.
The game is still beautifully tight (you can beat it in 20 hours without really trying!) and has probably my favourite cast of Final Fantasisers outside of VI, which this game clearly takes a huge chunk of its inspiration from.
Don't think I can be bothered playing the remake after this - knowing it's just Midgar, a miniscule portion of the entire saga, just doesn't sound very interesting. And how can you really improve what's in here?
2020
Criminally overlooked. Feels great in solo play, feels incredible in multiplayer. A king of couch co-op. Have beaten it on every difficulty multiple times, but keep coming back to it because it just feels so good to keep a combo going to the beat of one of 2020's best soundtracks.
1997
Fucked up that this website won't let you nominate this game for 2020 GOTY.
2018
Feels like a perfect capstone to a year-long journey I've been on with the boomer shooter genre that began when I bought DOOM 64 on a whim because it was £1.
Gleefully blends together just about every 90s FPS that I can think of - I would best describe it as playing multi-storey Doom levels with Quake weapons and controls, all wrapped in Blood's aesthetic sensibilities? And also you get to do some Duke Nukem shit, like smoking cigars and making (textual) quips?! Cool! When things really get going, it feels like you're watching someone do a Quake 3 speedrun of Resident Evil 4. I dunno! I'm finding this game hard to succinctly explain! It's cool! Very much its own thing, despite quite clearly being inspired by every boomer shooter ever. Fantastic vibes.
Also, I really liked that Episode 3 kinda eschewed any attempt to maintain continuity with Episode 2's difficulty level and decided that it would rather just focus on cool, different shit. The last couple of levels ROCK!! I loved them! Caleb!!!!!
Gleefully blends together just about every 90s FPS that I can think of - I would best describe it as playing multi-storey Doom levels with Quake weapons and controls, all wrapped in Blood's aesthetic sensibilities? And also you get to do some Duke Nukem shit, like smoking cigars and making (textual) quips?! Cool! When things really get going, it feels like you're watching someone do a Quake 3 speedrun of Resident Evil 4. I dunno! I'm finding this game hard to succinctly explain! It's cool! Very much its own thing, despite quite clearly being inspired by every boomer shooter ever. Fantastic vibes.
Also, I really liked that Episode 3 kinda eschewed any attempt to maintain continuity with Episode 2's difficulty level and decided that it would rather just focus on cool, different shit. The last couple of levels ROCK!! I loved them! Caleb!!!!!
2020
Weirdly dull at times, despite the fact it's probably the most authentic-feeling that a Star Wars flying game has ever been. Setting every single mission in the void of space with very few physical markers makes many action sequences feel inert, like you're just pointing a stationary laser turret at targets. I imagine it was a matter of time-constraints, but it would have been cool to have some planetary stuff.
However, when the game does work, it really works! Getting into synchronisation with your co-pilots and landing an objective felt good! My favourite thing to do was pilot a Y-Wing and do slow-steady bombing runs on capital ships and space stations while carefully modulating my shields to block incoming cannon fire. Always thought of myself as an X-Wing boy, but this game may have changed my mind...
However, when the game does work, it really works! Getting into synchronisation with your co-pilots and landing an objective felt good! My favourite thing to do was pilot a Y-Wing and do slow-steady bombing runs on capital ships and space stations while carefully modulating my shields to block incoming cannon fire. Always thought of myself as an X-Wing boy, but this game may have changed my mind...
2019
I got a character to max rank and retired them, which I think counts as 'completing'.
Untouchable atmosphere (barring some graphics tech jank like the UI reflecting in water) and probably the best realisation of "true grit" shooting since Red Orchestra back in The Day. The 1s and 0s behind the realist horror magic can sometimes get exposed as you play more games and end up learning how things really work, but the real meat of this game is in the pants-shitting firefights where anything and everything can happen. Man is the real beast, etc.
Best played with friends, as you can chat away the dead air spent walking between objective markers in the early game. I totally understand why the "walking sim" stuff exists (tension!!!), but I do almost wish there were gametypes that got you into the gunplay sooner. Walking for 15 minutes only to lose 4 hours of character progression to a sniper cosied up in a grain tower feels ROUGH
Untouchable atmosphere (barring some graphics tech jank like the UI reflecting in water) and probably the best realisation of "true grit" shooting since Red Orchestra back in The Day. The 1s and 0s behind the realist horror magic can sometimes get exposed as you play more games and end up learning how things really work, but the real meat of this game is in the pants-shitting firefights where anything and everything can happen. Man is the real beast, etc.
Best played with friends, as you can chat away the dead air spent walking between objective markers in the early game. I totally understand why the "walking sim" stuff exists (tension!!!), but I do almost wish there were gametypes that got you into the gunplay sooner. Walking for 15 minutes only to lose 4 hours of character progression to a sniper cosied up in a grain tower feels ROUGH
2018
Seemingly never ends because of its treadmill procedurally-generated content - sounds grim, but I guess that's actually pretty cool if you're into car-driving.
Probably my favourite arcade-sim hybrid racer - tons of fun, feels fantastic (particularly on the downhill drifting races) and looks incredible! My first RTX-enabled game and very much helped me "get" the appeal of the technology.
I hate to admit it, but driving around Edinburgh is a real treat. I was really impressed with the accuracy of the simulation.
Probably my favourite arcade-sim hybrid racer - tons of fun, feels fantastic (particularly on the downhill drifting races) and looks incredible! My first RTX-enabled game and very much helped me "get" the appeal of the technology.
I hate to admit it, but driving around Edinburgh is a real treat. I was really impressed with the accuracy of the simulation.
1996
First time playing through since my cousin showed me the noclip cheat on the N64 port and made me think my console was gonna go on fire. Beat the DOS version with no mouse (inspired by reading about Carmack's no-mouse preference in Masters of Doom last year) and the Quakespasm source port with all the mod-cons. It's a pretty short game!
The spongey enemies and awkward my-first-3D layouts give this a clunkier feel than Doom, but it's still satisfying to strafejump around at top speed and pump anything and everything full of nails and grenades. The array of weapons feels a lot less distinct than Doom, but the rocket and grenade launchers are still some of the most iconic members of any FPS arsenal.
Reznor's sounds and soundtrack are operating on the level of the John Williams Star Wars scores here, imbuing something inherently ridiculous with far more gravitas and atmosphere than it probably deserves. The ranger's HUP never gets old, but his lava screams get pretty annoying when you're trying to take shortcuts!
Surprisingly easy outside of a few slogs against the meatier enemies (shambler whats up) - might come back for another playthrough on Nightmare.
The spongey enemies and awkward my-first-3D layouts give this a clunkier feel than Doom, but it's still satisfying to strafejump around at top speed and pump anything and everything full of nails and grenades. The array of weapons feels a lot less distinct than Doom, but the rocket and grenade launchers are still some of the most iconic members of any FPS arsenal.
Reznor's sounds and soundtrack are operating on the level of the John Williams Star Wars scores here, imbuing something inherently ridiculous with far more gravitas and atmosphere than it probably deserves. The ranger's HUP never gets old, but his lava screams get pretty annoying when you're trying to take shortcuts!
Surprisingly easy outside of a few slogs against the meatier enemies (shambler whats up) - might come back for another playthrough on Nightmare.
2014
Gold standard by which all Doom WADs should be judged. Creative, challenging, humourous, stylish, funky, fresh, fun!
1997
Better than Mario Kart 64 in every conceivable way.
They added a new Amsterdam level where Duke Nukem smokes weed.
This review contains spoilers
An old friend tried out a new cake recipe for me after I complained that the one he'd been making every year for a decade was getting a bit repetitive. It was a bit raw on the inside, and he got the measurements totally wrong, so I ended up eating so much of it that I felt a bit sick, but it was made with love, and I was still grateful that my friend tried something new for me.
The JRPG combat in this is essentially a paradox. It's simultaneously the bedrock of the game and also feels completely unnecessary. It's the lynchpin of Ichi's character - a representation his fantastical, idealistic, manchildish imagination, and also serves as a way to mark out his friendship-collecting character and all the other ways he differs from Kazuma Kiryu... But it also kills any and all momentum the game tries to build, especially in its back half. I really, really just wanted to raw punch bad people. Especially Ryo Aoki.
The "grind your ass off to face a legend" trick was a nice wee bit of fun and a respectful nod to the RGG legacy the first time they tried it with Majima, but then immediately following it up with the exact same thing for Kiryu felt like a stupid jerkoff. Narratively, the game was hurtling towards one of the biggest climaxes in its history; gameplay-wise, I was spending hours upon hours going between kushikatsu restaurants and Pokemon battle arenas to collect gemstones so I could make my telephone nunchucks do ice damage, which is apparently the Dragon of Dojima's one weakness.
Kiryu's presence in the game is something of a sticking point for me. I didn't bother playing Yakuza 6 because the "this time he's REALLY not coming back!" promises rang hollow, and Yakuza 7 feels like something of a validation of my decision. I get that they wanted to have Kiryu (almost literally) pass the torch to Ichi, but there's something hollow about having Kiryu go "Okay, I guess YOU are LIKE a DRAGON, TOO!" after a boss battle where I turtled out his neutered combos with poison damage and paid summons. Why not give us a crumb of the legend with Majima and Saejima in this game, then give Kiryu a meatier role in a subsequent entry? Now RGG Studio have set a worrying precedent for the Former Dragon to come back in a walk-on role for every game, no doubt sporting sillier and sillier disguises to maintain this ridiculous pretence of him being dead. 72 year old Kiryu wearing a top hat and moustache to talk to the chief of police in Yakuza X, please.
Anyway, I feel like I'm ragging a little too hard on what is mostly a very good game. The opening hours of this are among the best narratives these games have ever attempted - which, by extension, means Yakuza 7 is among the best story-driven games ever made. I just wish the game didn't graduate from explorations of poverty, homelessness and sex work into more Yakuza-By-Numbers storytelling that I could find on just about any Battles Without Honour or Humanity DVD (a critical flaw of the series that doesn't just apply to this latest entry - Yakuza 0 and 3 were particularly guilty of this too).
Woops, I slipped into ragging on the game again! Gahhhh!! I really do like these games a lot! I've collectively spent about 500 hours playing them, and they are really fun! I only want the best for this series! Please, forgive me!! cuts off pinky
The JRPG combat in this is essentially a paradox. It's simultaneously the bedrock of the game and also feels completely unnecessary. It's the lynchpin of Ichi's character - a representation his fantastical, idealistic, manchildish imagination, and also serves as a way to mark out his friendship-collecting character and all the other ways he differs from Kazuma Kiryu... But it also kills any and all momentum the game tries to build, especially in its back half. I really, really just wanted to raw punch bad people. Especially Ryo Aoki.
The "grind your ass off to face a legend" trick was a nice wee bit of fun and a respectful nod to the RGG legacy the first time they tried it with Majima, but then immediately following it up with the exact same thing for Kiryu felt like a stupid jerkoff. Narratively, the game was hurtling towards one of the biggest climaxes in its history; gameplay-wise, I was spending hours upon hours going between kushikatsu restaurants and Pokemon battle arenas to collect gemstones so I could make my telephone nunchucks do ice damage, which is apparently the Dragon of Dojima's one weakness.
Kiryu's presence in the game is something of a sticking point for me. I didn't bother playing Yakuza 6 because the "this time he's REALLY not coming back!" promises rang hollow, and Yakuza 7 feels like something of a validation of my decision. I get that they wanted to have Kiryu (almost literally) pass the torch to Ichi, but there's something hollow about having Kiryu go "Okay, I guess YOU are LIKE a DRAGON, TOO!" after a boss battle where I turtled out his neutered combos with poison damage and paid summons. Why not give us a crumb of the legend with Majima and Saejima in this game, then give Kiryu a meatier role in a subsequent entry? Now RGG Studio have set a worrying precedent for the Former Dragon to come back in a walk-on role for every game, no doubt sporting sillier and sillier disguises to maintain this ridiculous pretence of him being dead. 72 year old Kiryu wearing a top hat and moustache to talk to the chief of police in Yakuza X, please.
Anyway, I feel like I'm ragging a little too hard on what is mostly a very good game. The opening hours of this are among the best narratives these games have ever attempted - which, by extension, means Yakuza 7 is among the best story-driven games ever made. I just wish the game didn't graduate from explorations of poverty, homelessness and sex work into more Yakuza-By-Numbers storytelling that I could find on just about any Battles Without Honour or Humanity DVD (a critical flaw of the series that doesn't just apply to this latest entry - Yakuza 0 and 3 were particularly guilty of this too).
Woops, I slipped into ragging on the game again! Gahhhh!! I really do like these games a lot! I've collectively spent about 500 hours playing them, and they are really fun! I only want the best for this series! Please, forgive me!! cuts off pinky
Yeah yeah JK Rowling is a terf, Harry Potter sucks, etc. But I kinda... love what this was trying? Most of the game's cutscenes outright mock the hokum twists and turns that the later books took (Harry straight-up laughs off a few character deaths - that whips sack), and it tries a few new stylistic interpretations of the original LEGO game formula that I enjoyed.
We beat this right after I finished Like A Dragon, and I gotta say, this game's 20 second "Voldemort died lol" ending cutscene felt GOOD after numbing my arse on three hours of high-quality yakuza melodrama.
The gameplay is still essentially just bull-in-a-china-shop smash-and-grab, but it feels like it would be a great game to teach young kids how video games work. I'm 30 years old and struggled with some of the puzzles, by the way.
Also, are the LEGO games built on some fork of id Tech/the Quake engine? This game uses a LOT of Quake noises for its spells. Just wish Harry did the Ranger's HUP when you jumped around.
We beat this right after I finished Like A Dragon, and I gotta say, this game's 20 second "Voldemort died lol" ending cutscene felt GOOD after numbing my arse on three hours of high-quality yakuza melodrama.
The gameplay is still essentially just bull-in-a-china-shop smash-and-grab, but it feels like it would be a great game to teach young kids how video games work. I'm 30 years old and struggled with some of the puzzles, by the way.
Also, are the LEGO games built on some fork of id Tech/the Quake engine? This game uses a LOT of Quake noises for its spells. Just wish Harry did the Ranger's HUP when you jumped around.
This got 40/40 in Famitsu, so I imported it immediately. The game was £45 and the express shipping was £25; UPS then asked for £30 in 'priority' import handling fees.
I played through the story in an afternoon, checked all the super moves and then never played it again.
Two years later, I saw the English-language version in a bargain bin at a local game shop for £15.
I played through the story in an afternoon, checked all the super moves and then never played it again.
Two years later, I saw the English-language version in a bargain bin at a local game shop for £15.
2019
My wee brother used to be the main healer in a fairly successful and tight-knit¹ World of Warcraft guild - we didn't have a lot of money to keep our PC up-to-date, so one of the older guys in the guild would post us his old graphics cards every other year. We used to get some buzz off watching those daft benchmark tests that often came with the mid-2000s NVidia cards - I distinctly remember losing it over a shadow looking like the player model it was being cast from.
Quake II RTX is basically one of those, and I'm logging it! It was fun to play at the same time as I'm playing the original (Yagami-enhanced) Quake II. I think the Yagami sourceport looks much better, despite not having refracted water or whatever. Nobody needs to see the Bitterman's reflection.
¹ (To the point of multiple married couples in the guild were having not-so-well-hidden online and IRL affairs with other members of the same guild)
Quake II RTX is basically one of those, and I'm logging it! It was fun to play at the same time as I'm playing the original (Yagami-enhanced) Quake II. I think the Yagami sourceport looks much better, despite not having refracted water or whatever. Nobody needs to see the Bitterman's reflection.
¹ (To the point of multiple married couples in the guild were having not-so-well-hidden online and IRL affairs with other members of the same guild)